Meet Fred Pelzman -- He May Be Your Future

"Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." -- Robert Frost

I've always liked that description of "home" and when I first met Fred Pelzman and listened to him explain how he was trying to revamp an academic medical practice into a "patient-centered medical home," I was again reminded of that bit of wisdom from Frost.

I wondered if Fred, an internist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, was building a patient-centered medical home where they would "have to take you in."

Or, was this just another buzz phrase du jour attempt at re-branding primary care medicine?

I wasn't sure, but after spending an hour with him I knew that I wanted to find out, and I wanted the MedPage Today provider community -- MDs and DOs, NPs and PAs -- to find out right along with me.

So it is that my curiosity and optimism for the future of medical care in these United States prompted me to ask Fred to tell his story in a weekly column. I wanted him to share the process from the initial concept through the day-to-day reality. Brick-by-brick, patient-by-patient, I want to know how it is done. I want to know what works and what doesn't. I want him to tell us his endpoints and tell us when and if he meets them.

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